Presidential Democracy Examples:- Throughout the world, there exist different kinds of government structures. Largely, you will find two kinds that exist very commonly which are the Presidential and the Parliamentary forms of government. This blog will shed light on the origin of the Presidential form of government, its difference from the parliamentary form of government, its advantages and disadvantages, and the examples of a few nations that have a Democratic Presidential form of government.
Origin of the Presidential Democracy Form of Government
The credit for being a founder of this system lies with America. It was the Americans who wanted to replace and have an alternative to the Parliamentary system. Once they gained independence, the then 13 American colonies were being regulated by the Articles of Confederation which was a weak form of structure and lacked cooperation within inter-state relations. The founders were farsighted thinkers and were aware of the fact that the parliamentary system existing in the U.K. was not the solution for them.
Salient Features
The most important feature you will get to observe in this system is that the people directly elect the President who is the chief executive of the country. This system is the cornerstone of the term “separation of power” as all the branches of a government, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, are independent of each other. This means, that no one branch is constitutionally superior to another and there is no power in any branch to dismiss the other.
There is a clear demarcation of powers among these branches such as the legislature will make laws, the president that is the chief executive will enforce them, and the judiciary will interpret the laws and decide cases.
Presidential v. Parliamentary System
The most striking difference between these systems is the procedure of electing the head of the state and the government. In the Presidential system, there are two ways a president is elected; either by people directly or by an electoral college.
Whereas in the parliamentary system, the head of the government, often addressed as the Prime Minister is selected from the winning party. This selection process varies from nation to nation.
However, this creates a blurring effect between the legislature and the executive branch of the government, as it is the national-level legislature that elects the head of the state, unlike in the presidential system.
This does not mean that the parliamentary system does not have a head of the state in the form of a President. There are many democratic nations, that prescribe the parliamentary system with a President as the head of the state, but the President in this system is merely a nominal head.
Presidential Democracy Examples
The United States of America
If you are looking for presidential democracy examples, you cannot overlook the prime example of one of the largest democracies in the world, the United States of America. The crown for the founding nation of this system of government lies with America.
The President heads the executive branch of the government in the US. The President acts as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. One of the prime responsibilities of the President of the United States of America is to implement and enforce the laws legislated by Congress.
The President is also responsible for appointing the heads of the fifteen executive departments and these appointees carry out the administration of the government. As per the Presidential democratic system in America, the President has the authority to veto the bills enacted by the legislature. But again, to keep the checks and balances, the constitution of America provides power to the Congress to override the veto of the president by a two-thirds vote in both houses.
Argentina
Another prime example of a presidential democracy is Argentina. The core principles of the system are followed in Argentina as the head of the state and the head of the Government is the President only.
Like the United States, in Argentina, the President is the Commander-in-chief of the armed forces. It is considered that the President in Argentina is the most powerful body in the government and has varied powers ranging from power to draft his bills to declaring an emergency in the country. It is the people of Argentina who elect the president via universal suffrage.
Brazil
Similar to the United States, the branches of the government are clearly demarcated in Brazil in the form of the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary, making it another prime example of the presidential democratic system.
Brazil is a federal representative democratic republic. The president in Brazil is elected for 4 years and can be re-elected for another consecutive term. The key thing to note here is that a president can run for office in the future after two consecutive terms with a lapse of 4 years.
Mexico
Mexico also operates in the federal form of government and the branches of the government are the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. Like any other presidential government system, the President in Mexico also is the head of the state and the government. However, the key thing to note in Mexico is that the President is elected for a term of six years and there is no scope for re-election in the office.
Advantages of the Presidential Form of Government
The above-mentioned presidential democracy examples have helped to deduce various advantages of the Presidential Form of Government. The separation of power between the branches of the government helps in increasing the efficiency of administration.
It is left upon the President to appoint eminent professionals to lead the important ministries as it is not necessary that the ministries or executive branches should be led by legislators. This feature ensures that the ministries are headed by professionals who possess skills and knowledge.
Another advantage of this form of system is that it is considered reliable as the President is appointed for a fixed term and is not concerned about losing the government because of the lack of support from the legislature.
Disadvantages of the Presidential Form of Government
The critics of this system have always advocated that there is a possibility that the chief executive i.e. the President can behave in an authoritarian manner as there is no legislative control in the form of losing the government.
The possibility of clashes is very high in case the political party of the President is not represented in the majority within the legislature.
These clashes result in deadlocks and affect the efficiency of the government. Since the President is free to appoint the top positions in the ministries, the history of different nations has shown that this practice has benefitted the people connected to the President to head the prominent positions in the ministries.
FAQs:-
Q. What are the examples of the Presidential democratic system of government?
The prime examples of the presidential democratic form of government are the United States of America, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. The United States of America is also the founding nation of the presidential system.
Q. What are the major government systems in the world?
There are two most common forms of government systems throughout the world, the parliamentary and the presidential form of government.
Q. Can the presidential form of government make a President a dictator?
It is a misconception that this system can lead to authoritarianism. The entire history of the US stands as an example that the presidential form of government does not produce dictators.